ST. LOUIS (AP) — Facing Johnny Cueto definitely brought out the best in the Cardinals’ Lance Lynn.

“It didn’t hurt my feelings one bit beating him,” the right-hander said after working seven scoreless innings against the 15-game winner in St. Louis’ 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday night.

“You see all the leader boards and you see his name up at the top. I outpitched him tonight, so yeah.”

Lynn beat Cincinnati for the third straight time and Jhonny Peralta hit a bases-clearing double for St. Louis.

Manager Mike Matheny said he’d anticipated seeing “how Lance bows his neck” against Cueto. “It’s a great opportunity to show what you can do,” the manager added.

Cueto (15-7) was off-kilter from the get-go and missed a chance to become the majors’ first 16-game winner. He allowed five runs in five-plus innings, and his seven-game winning streak ended.

“He just labored,” manager Bryan Price said. “We’ve come to expect him to be great every time and today just wasn’t one of those times.”

The Cardinals have won eight of nine and swept the Reds at home for the first time since Sept. 26-28, 2008. Cincinnati has lost 10 of 12, with Cueto getting the two wins.

Jon Jay had three hits, scored twice and was plunked by a pitch for the sixth time in six games for St. Louis. He is batting .514 (18 for 35) during a 12-game hitting streak, and has been hit by a pitch a majors-leading 16 times.

Lynn (14-8) gave up four singles and was set to pitch the eighth leading 5-0 before a 58-minute rain delay ended his outing.

“You always want to keep going,” Lynn said. “For it to be ended by rain, that’s never a great feeling. But we won the game, that’s all that matters.”

The Reds scored three times in the ninth, and Trevor Rosenthal got two outs for his 37th save in 42 chances.

Brandon Phillips got his first hit of the series, a single in the Reds seventh for the 1,500th of his career. Reds pinch hitters were 3 for 4 in a three-run ninth, including an RBI infield hit by Kris Negron.

Cueto had numerous mound conferences with catcher Bryan Pena and was pulled after walking Lynn on four pitches to load the bases with none out in the sixth. It wasn’t particularly hot, 86 degrees for the first pitch, but the right-hander said humidity took a toll.

“I’m used to pitching with long sleeves and it was so wet and my hand was getting really slippery,” Cueto said through a translator. “I could not grip the ball the way I wanted.”

The weather didn’t seem to bother Lynn.

“They were sweating, they both were,” Matheny said of the starting pitchers. “But he just never looked like he was gassed at all.”

Cueto had been 7-0 with a 2.24 ERA in his previous eight starts, including 3-0 this month. But matched his shortest outing of the year and season high with four walks, plus hit two batters.

Jay singled and scored on Matt Holliday’s double in the third. Jay reached on a two-out infield hit in the fifth, leading to Peralta’s three-run double.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jon Jay was hit by a pitch from J.J. Hoover with the base-loaded in the ninth inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

Matt Holliday drew a leadoff walk to start the winning rally. He advanced to third on Matt Adams’ single. After Peter Bourjos ran for Holliday, Jhonny Peralta walked to load the bases. Hoover (1-10) then plunked Jay to force in Bourjos with the winning run.

Pat Neshek (6-0) pitched one inning of scoreless relief as the Cardinals won for the fifth time in six games and remained 2 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central.

The Reds have lost four in a row.

Jay scored the tying run in the eighth on pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso’s RBI double off reliever Jumbo Diaz.

Todd Frazier put the Reds in front 2-1, with a two-run homer in the fourth. It was Frazier’s 21st home run of the season, but first since July 20.

Cincinnati starter Alfredo Simon gave up three runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one.

St. Louis starter John Lackey gave up four runs, two earned, in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one.

Cincinnati scored twice in the sixth on a bases-loaded double by former Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick. Errors by Holliday and Matt Carpenter and a walk set the stage for Ludwick’s hit, which pushed the lead to 4-1.

Peralta homered in the sixth to cut the deficit to 4-2. It was Peralta’s 17th home run of the season, setting the single-season mark for a St. Louis shortstop. Jay and Oscar Taveras followed with hits before pinch-hitter Shane Robinson singled of reliever Sam LeCure to bring the Cardinals to 4-3.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by Holliday in the third.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jhonny Peralta’s 10th-inning single, his third hit of the game, drove in the winning run to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 6-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

Jay Bruce homered, doubled and knocked in four runs for the Reds, which gives him nine RBIs in four games. Brandon Phillips returned from left thumb surgery wearing a brace and went 0-for-4 with a walk. Logan Ondrusek (3-3) entered with one out in the 10th and gave up consecutive singles to Matt Holliday, Matt Adams and Peralta. Ondrusek (strained right shoulder) was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day.

Peralta’s RBI single in the first was just his second in 32 at-bats against the Reds this season. He also doubled and scored the tying run on A.J. Pierzynski’s hit off Jumbo Diaz in the eighth.

Bruce doubled off Trevor Rosenthal to tie it in the ninth. Rosenthal was pulled after he walked the bases full with one out on Sunday, and he has allowed four runs in 2 1/3 innings in his past three outings. Seth Maness retired Zack Cozart on a foul pop with the bases loaded to end the top of the eighth.

Bruce’s three-run homer, his 14th shot of the season, capped a four-run fifth against Justin Masterson for a 4-3 lead. Bruce also set a franchise record with his 890th game in right field, which broke the mark set by Ival Goodman from 1935 to 1942.

Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso’s RBI double off Mike Leake tied it in the seventh.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals got just enough hitting to save Trevor Rosenthal.

Matt Carpenter homered, doubled and drove in three runs and Adam Wainwright tied for the major league lead with his 15th win in a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres 7-6 on Sunday.

“Our offense did a great job, put us all on their back,” Wainwright said.

The 24-year-old Rosenthal is among the major league leaders with 36 saves in 40 chances in his first season as closer. He walked the bases full with a strikeout in the ninth and Seth Maness gave up a two-run single to Abraham Almonte before earning his second save in two chances.

“We needed to get him some help,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We didn’t feel like we were going to sit around and watch too much without giving him a break.”

Three walks was a career worst for Rosenthal, who has walked five his last two appearances along with three hits and three runs in 1 1/3 innings. The hard-throwing righty and his manager believe it’s a timing issue and not about fatigue.

“Physically, everything feels pretty good,” Rosenthal said. “I think it’s just going to be narrowing the sights a little bit, or maybe not trying to do too much.”

Rosenthal is among the league leaders with 57 appearances.

“We’ve worked him pretty hard and we’re going to be very careful about how we move forward,” Matheny said. “We’re not afraid to use the other guys in our bullpen to pick up the games when he can’t.

“But as far as his role, he’s our closer.”

Jon Jay’s two-run single highlighted a four-run first inning when the Cardinals batted around against rookie Odrisamer Despaigne (3-4). Peter Bourjos and Tony Cruz each had an RBI single for St. Louis, which took three of four in the series.

Despaigne needed 37 pitches to get out of the first.

“He just couldn’t finish off any hitters,” manager Bud Black said. “He couldn’t get any of his pitches where he needed to get them.”

Carpenter’s two-run double off Tim Stauffer in the sixth made it a three-run cushion for Wainwright (15-7), who joined the Reds’ Johnny Cueto at 15 wins. Milwaukee’s Wily Peralta was seeking his 15th later Sunday.

Wainwright allowed three earned runs in seven innings with five strikeouts and one walk, overcoming a handful of rough patches. He hasn’t felt locked in for a while.

“It’s been a grind for over a month now,” Wainwright said. “I’m about ready for it to end.”

Wainwright is 5-0 at home with a 1.55 ERA against the Padres, so this was one of his stiffer tests.

“We did a nice job of laying off the breaking balls as the game went on,” Black said. “We put together some better swings.”

Alexi Amarista and Yangvertis Solarte had an RBI apiece in the San Diego fifth. Jake Goebbert had an RBI triple and scored on second baseman Kolten Wong’s wild relay as the Padres pulled within 5-4 in the sixth.

First baseman Matt Adams made a nice defensive stop to rob Seth Smith of a game-tying hit for the second out in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched six strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Diego Padres 4-2 Friday night for their third straight win.

Matt Adams, Kolten Wong and Oscar Taveras hit RBI singles for St. Louis. San Diego has lost two in a row after a five-game winning streak.

Lynn (13-8) gave up one run and six hits, striking out six and walking one. The Padres handed him a 3-1 defeat on July 29.

Reliever Pat Neshek posted his fourth save. Regular closer Trevor Rosenthal was given the night off after two successive appearances.

Pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal homered with two outs in the Padres ninth. After Chris Nelson doubled, Neshek struck out Will Venable.

Tyson Ross (11-11) gave up three runs and five hits over six innings. He walked four and hit two batters.

Ross walked the first three batters in the first and Adam hit an RBI single. Jhonny Peralta followed with a run-scoring groundout.

Wong pushed the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the fourth. It was his team-high 27th RBI with two out.

San Diego climbed to within 3-1 on a double by Venable in the fifth. Lynn retired Tommy Medica and Seth Smith with runners on second and third to preserve the lead.

Taveras had a pinch-hit single in the eighth.

The Cardinals are 22-7 at home against San Diego since 2006.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pinch-hitter Jon Jay delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning and right fielder Shane Robinson threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth to help the St. Louis Cardinals hold off the San Diego Padres 4-3 Thursday night.

Jhonny Peralta hit an early two-run homer for the Cardinals, who moved ahead of Pittsburgh into second place in the NL Central. St. Louis remained two games behind division-leading Milwaukee.

San Diego had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 16-9 since the All-Star break.

Trailing by two in the ninth, the Padres loaded the bases with one out against closer Trevor Rosenthal. Pinch-hitter Jake Goebbert came through with an RBI single to right, but Alexi Amarista was cut down at home when he tried to score from second.

The replay review lasted 4 minutes, 9 seconds. Padres manager Bud Black then was ejected for continuing to argue the call.

After a four-pitch walk to Will Venable loaded the bases again, Rosenthal struck out Tommy Medica for his 36th save in 40 opportunities.

San Diego reliever Alex Torres (1-1) appeared to strike out Tony Cruz leading off the eighth, but it was ruled Cruz foul-tipped the ball. Replays showed Cruz missed the pitch.

Given another chance, Cruz singled on the next delivery. Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso walked on four pitches and Kolten Wong came in to run for Cruz. Matt Carpenter loaded the bases with a single to left.

Nick Vincent entered to face Jay, who went after the first pitch and drove a one-hop double off the wall in center to snap a 2-all tie. Jay is 5 for 17 with three RBIs as a pinch hitter. He has a six-game hitting streak with seven RBIs.

Seth Maness (4-2) earned the win with one spotless inning of relief.

Peralta hit his 16th home run to drive in Matt Adams, who led off the second with a single. That lifted Peralta into a tie with Edgar Renteria (2000) and Daryl Spencer (1960) for the St. Louis single-season record for home runs by a shortstop.

The Padres tied the score with two runs in the sixth after loading the bases with none out. Venable scored on a fielder’s choice. Medica, who had doubled, came home when Rymer Liriano beat out an infield single with two outs.

Both starters went seven innings.

Cardinals right-hander John Lackey improved on his last start in Baltimore that resulted in nine earned runs over five innings. Lackey allowed five hits and two runs with five strikeouts.

Eric Stults gave up two runs and four hits for San Diego. Stults has allowed three or fewer earned runs in nine of his last 10 starts.

— Associated Press —

MIAMI (AP) — R&B blared in the St. Louis Cardinals’ postgame clubhouse, making conversation difficult, and Justin Masterson reached over to the stereo and turned down the volume so he could talk about his latest outing.

Masterson did it all Wednesday- pitching, hitting and monitoring the music after St. Louis beat the Miami Marlins 5-2.

The former Indians ace earned his first career RBI in the sixth with a two-out single. But he was more excited about pitching seven scoreless innings in his best outing since being acquired in a trade with Cleveland on July 30.

“I pray to the good lord that this is on the right path,” said Masterson, who has struggled for much of the season. “I felt very comfortable. The ball was coming out well and it was heavy. And it was going at guys; that’s nice, too.”

The 6-foot-6 sinkerballer recorded 12 outs on groundballs. He also bounced a grounder through the Miami infield for his RBI, and when asked if he got the ball as a souvenir, he laughed.

“I got a W,” he said. “It’s much better for the team than the ball.”

Masterson improved to 2-1 with St. Louis and 5-6 overall. He allowed three hits — all singles — and no walks and threw only 91 pitches before departing for a pinch hitter.

After recording only six outs in his previous start, he lowered his ERA to 6.00 in three outings with the Cardinals, and 5.14 overall this year.

“Today was just a great sign of the kind of pitcher he can be when he gets it all put together,” manager Mike Matheny said. “It couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

The Marlins were going for their first three-game sweep of the Cardinals since 1996, but they didn’t get a runner to second base until the ninth.

“Absolutely we wanted to get greedy and try to go for the sweep,” Casey McGehee said. “But Masterson threw the ball well.”

Miami walked in a run and allowed two unearned runs on a pair of errors by second baseman Jordany Valdespin. Nathan Eovaldi (6-7) allowed four runs, two earned, in six innings.

Jeff Baker hit a two-run homer for the Marlins, but NL home run and RBI leader Giancarlo Stanton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

The Cardinals won despite going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They were 4 for 26 in those situations in the series, which made a two-out, two-run single by Matt Adams in the third inning especially welcome.

“Somebody in the dugout yelled real loud, `Hey, we got the lead,” Matheny said. “That was a nice change of pace.”

Masterson made the early advantage stand up.

“You get two or three runs and you can challenge guys and go after them,” he said.

— Associated Press —

MIAMI (AP) — The drive down the left-field line took a surprising path, clanging off the foul pole for a homer by a batter who rarely hits them against a pitcher who rarely gives them up.

That narrow margin loomed large because of the way Jarred Cosart pitched against Adam Wainwright. Cosart went seven innings Tuesday to earn his first victory for the Miami Marlins, who beat Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0.

Wainwright (14-7) missed a chance to become the first 15-game winner in the majors. He went seven innings and allowed three runs, with two coming on a fourth-inning home run by Donovan Solano — only the sixth homer allowed by the Cardinals’ ace.

“I thought for sure the ball was going foul,” Solano said.

He wasn’t the only one.

“That ball was 10 feet foul and it came back fair. It was just the craziest ball flight I’ve ever seen,” Wainwright said. “He thought it was foul, the umpire thought it was foul, I thought it was foul, everyone in the park thought it was foul. And then the ball started having this ball flight back to the pole, and it ended up hitting the pole. You can’t do anything about that.”

It was stunner coming against Wainwright, who began the game with the best innings-to-homers ratio among all major league starters. The homer was Solano’s first ever at Marlins Park in 133 games.

His only other homer this year came against another All-Star, David Price.

“You can book Donovan for every ace in the league from here on out,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said with a giggle.

Cosart allowed three hits and one walk to win for the first time since July 7. The victory came in his second start for Miami after being acquired from Houston in a trade for prospects.

“I think that’s why I got traded — they had confidence in my ability that I can help this team,” Cosart said. “I have the utmost confidence in my own ability that I can come in here and help these guys win games and help make a playoff push.”

He’s 1-1 with the Marlins and 10-7 overall this year.

Casey McGehee led off the Marlins’ fourth and hustled for a double when left fielder Matt Holliday was slow getting the ball back into the infield. Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled home the game’s first run, and Solano pulled an inside sinker for his homer.

“I think I got so caught up trying to stuff it in there that I didn’t juice it like I wanted to,” Wainwright said. “That may be why he got to it. You’ve got to tip your hat sometimes. It obviously looks ridiculously stupid that I gave up a two-run homer there, but the sad thing is it probably wouldn’t have mattered because their guys pitched very good and we didn’t score.”

— Associated Press —

MIAMI (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton led the Miami Marlins to a victory with his bat and his glove.

Stanton hit two home runs and made a spectacular diving catch in right field to help the Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 on Monday night.

“He was definitely trying to take that game over not only with his bat, but with his glove,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

Stanton’s 13th multihomer game established a franchise career record and he tied Hanley Ramirez for second place on the club’s home run list with 148. Stanton hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the third to give him 31 on the season and five in his last five games.

“Just feeling better and having better at-bats and pitch selection is a little better,” Stanton said of his recent surge.

Marlins starter Tom Koehler (8-9) allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

Steve Cishek escaped the ninth to record his 30th save in 33 chances. With two outs, Cishek allowed an RBI triple by Kolten Wong and an RBI single by Matt Holliday, allowing the Cardinals to pull within 6-5. Cishek struck out Matt Adams to end the game.

Jon Jay hit a two-run homer, Holliday had four hits, and Shelby Miller (8-9) allowed five runs in five innings for the Cardinals, who have lost three of four.

“We had plenty of hits, they just had bigger ones,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

Stanton’s diving catch to his left on the warning track took a hit away from Wong in the fifth inning.

“I was more trying to protect myself and slide on grass as opposed to dirt and make sure I secure it at the same time,” Stanton said.

The catch prompted the home crowd into giving him a standing ovation, with two homers already to his credit.

“That was really cool that they appreciate things like that,” Stanton said.

Koehler and the Marlins also benefited from key defensive plays by Jordany Valdespin, Christian Yelich, and Adeiny Hechavarria.

“I don’t think I’ve had that many top-notch plays in a course of a season, that was unbelievable,” Koehler said. “If you watch ‘SportsCenter’ tonight, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have all 10 (top plays).”

The Cardinals were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

The Marlins led 3-0 after Stanton’s homers, but the Cardinals tied it with three runs in the fourth.

“I made some pitches, but when it came down to the best hitter on their team I threw two of the worst pitches I’ve probably thrown all night,” Miller said.

Hechavarria and Yelich drove in runs in the bottom of the inning to put the Marlins up 5-3.

— Associated Press —

BALTIMORE (AP) — Using their own brand of baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals showed power-hitting Baltimore they can score a bunch of runs, too.

Rookie Kolten Wong had four hits and scored twice, Peter Bourjos homered and St. Louis beat the Orioles 8-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

After allowing nine home runs in losing the first two games of the series by a collective 22-5 score, the Cardinals amassed a season-high 17 hits — 14 of them singles.

St. Louis came into the game with 80 home runs compared to 147 for Baltimore, but the Cardinals’ style of little ball produced a big win.

“We walked in here today and that’s all the conversation was, we’ve got to win this, we’ve got to figure out a way to get this one,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We felt good about what our offense could do. The guys, they were taking good at-bats all day long. We got a couple big hits when we needed them; that’s usually the difference.”

Bourjos capped the barrage with a three-run drive in the ninth off Zach Britton, ending the left-hander’s run of 27 straight scoreless appearances at home.

The additional runs seemed to be unnecessary, but against the Orioles it’s hard to determine how much offense is enough.

“We saw what they can do the last couple nights and we had to keep pushing to keep pace with them and keep the lead,” third baseman Daniel Descalso said.

Wong’s four hits, all of them singles, matched a career high and lifted his batting average 11 points to .253.

St. Louis right-hander Lance Lynn (12-8) gave up three runs and nine hits over 5 2/3 innings, only the second time in his last 12 starts that he allowed more than two runs.

“They’ve got some guys that can hit the ball all the way up and down the lineup, and I knew that going in today it was going to be a grind,” Lynn said. “I was able to make enough pitches when I needed to and get out of some jams.”

Nick Markakis had four hits for the Orioles, who went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. Caleb Joseph’s streak of consecutive games with a home run ended at five, one short of the club record.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ejected after a replay overturned an out call on a force play in the top of the seventh. His first ejection of the season was automatic after he came out to argue the result of a replay.

Baltimore starter Kevin Gausman (6-4) allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

“I like that he didn’t let the game get away from him completely,” Showalter said. “A lot of borderline pitches. It wasn’t like he imploded.”

The AL East-leading Orioles next host the New York Yankees for a three-game series that begins Monday night. New York trails by six games.

“We don’t really look at it quite the way everybody else does,” Showalter said. “It’s significant because they’re one of the teams we’ve got to be better than when the smoke clears.”

St. Louis went up 4-2 in the sixth on an RBI single by Descalso, but Markakis matched that in the bottom half with a run-scoring single.

Successive doubles by Descalso and Matt Carpenter, off Andrew Miller in the eighth, made it 5-3.

Bourjos wrapped it up with his home run. He entered as a pinch runner in the seventh.

— Associated Press —